White Knighting For Fun and Profit
by Gundam Kaiser
Summary: Private Suzaku Kururugi, Honorary Britannian, wanted two things in life. To reform the Holy Empire of Britannia from within the system and thereby return dignity to the Japanese people; and to die as atonement for his sins. What he got instead was a snarky voice in his head insistent on telling him things. Things Suzaku couldn't possibly have known, even subconsciously... SI fic.
1. Reform 1: A Strange Twist of Fate

**2018, A.T.B.**

Well now, I think to myself as I look through a darkened helmet visor, this is terribly mysterious. I certainly don't remember wearing a helmet when I went to bed last night.

"What the -?! Who's there?!"

My head whips around to either side, scanning desperately for threats as I cry out in a startled voice that doesn't sound like mine.

"Show yourself!"

...ahhh. _That's_ why my body is moving and talking without my say-so.

Because it isn't my body in the first place - but rather, I'm stuck in someone else's.

Sorry, dude. I'm not sure how or why I'm living in your head all of a sudden but, ah. Nice to meet you?

"...the stress of the situation is getting to me," I hear myself mutter softly. "Just ignore the voice in your head, Private, and keep focused on mission."

Private? Mission? Speaking thereof in a deeply concerned tone? I guess you're probably a soldier, then. You sound pretty young, though. What's your name, kid?

The guy whose body I'm stick in is spared from addressing my question directly by a voice on the radio.

_"Sir Jeremiah's KMF squadron are battling the terrorists in Shinjuku Ghetto! All ground troops, prioritize finding that poison gas!"_

...those are a lot of suspiciously familiar terms being thrown around. I have a bad feeling about this...

I've been walking around this whole time - no, no, that's unfair. Walking around implies aimless or purposeless movement. I've - we've, rather - been searching this subway system, looking for something. A trailer with stolen poison gas on it.

And a minute or so later, we find just such a thing.

"This is Private Kururugi," my new best friend says into his own radio. "I've found the trailer and gas capsule."

_"Confirmed. Stay there until the disposal squad arrives."_

...well, shit. I am where I thought I was. Nice to meetcha, **Suzaku Kururugi**. What a long, strange trip this is going to be.

"...you aren't ever going to be quiet, are yo-?"

As he's starting to realize that I'm more than a mere stress-induced hallucination, I abruptly notice a thin guy, probably a teenager, standing dangerously close to the capsule - **NO! I can't let that civilian die!**

"STOP! YOU'LL BE SPRAYED WITH POISON GAS!"

Before I can even process what's going on, and certainly before the civilian can heed my - fuck, this is gonna be confusing - _Suzaku's_ warning, we've already tackled the poor guy.

Suzaku, calm down! He's not actually in dang- ...ah, but _you_ don't have the frame of reference to understand that. It's fine, though. That reckless, desperate heroism is something I can respect.

Actually, I should clarify that. The willingness to sacrifice your own life in defense of someone else's is noble in general terms. But when you don't even care about what you're giving up, it's more... sad, almost pitiful.

I can tell from the annoyance in his heart that he wants to rebuke me and tell me off, civilian presence be damned, but this time the 'poison gas capsule' opens up and interrupts him, revealing a lovely girl with straight green hair in a prison uniform - she's clearly breathing, but seems to be either asleep or unconscious. Understandable, after having been locked in an airtight box for who knows how long.

"A... girl?!"

ATTABOY, Suzaku! You can state the obviou- no, wait, that isn't quite fair to you, you were told this was poison gas. I suppose it's only natural that you should be momentarily confused.

...although, I suppose that woman _can_ prove toxic to those around her in a certain fashion, hahaha!

"...what?"

"...why would a prisoner be described to infantry as poisonous gas? And why was she being transported on truck through a subway?"

Ah, **Lelouch Lamperouge**. Or rather, **vi Britannia**, I should say. Even now, I can see the gears turning behind his eyes, asking the right questions and piecing together the situation just from what he sees.

"Wait." My, no, Suzaku's brain gets caught back up to speed and pays attention to what I was just saying. And now that he can't unhear it, he can't unsee the resemblance to his childhood friend.

"Le... Lelouch?! Is that you?!"

This desperate burning in my heart, what is - **Lelouch! Thank god you survived all this time!**

...of course. I'm stuck in Suzaku's body, so it's obvious I should be hit with his feelings, too. As childhood memories of a time long gone by run past my vision, I can't help but smile right alongside Suzaku. Even if the circumstances might be unfortunate, we've run across an old friend whom we feared was dead.

Cling onto this moment, Suzaku! This is proof that you can still be happy!

"...Suzaku?" That look in Lelouch's eyes... okay, I'm not even Suzaku, and I gotta admit, being looked at that way _hurts_. It's seeing the relief of finding an old friend, but that relief almost immediately turns into a fierce anger that we both can see is largely a mask for _disappointment_. "Why did you become a Britannian soldier?!"

**Why did I-?!** "I joined so I can do my part in making this senseless death and destruction _stop_, Lelouch! What's _your_ excuse for becoming a terrorist?!"

Hey, Lelouch isn't a terrorist!

"I am not a terrorist," Lelouch angrily replies in unwitting agreement with me.

You have to give him another twenty minutes or so, _then_ he'll be one.

**...****_then_**** he'll- what are you ****_talking_**** about?**

"And if you want to stop _senseless death and destruction_," the Black Prince continues, heedless of my and Suzaku's burgeoning back-and-forth, "then why don't you just _obliterate Britannia?!_"

"You've done well to stall the terrorist!," a new voice calls out. "For a mere Honorary, you have quite the excellent record."

As a purple-haired guy in a ritzy, military police-like uniform approaches with a whole goon squad behind him, Suzaku recognizes them as Prince Clovis's personal royal guard.

He extends a handgun to us, and smirks. "If you would prove your loyalty to Britannia beyond all doubt, Private Kururugi, then execute the terrorist."

...hey, Suzaku. I'm not advising that you actually shoot Lelouch, but... fair warning, if you don't? This guy is probably gonna shoot you for insubordination.

"Sir," Suzaku says as we look up at the man with determination, "this young man isn't a terrorist. He's just a school student who got caught up in this without meaning to."

**...he'd shoot me even if I did. You see the color of his ascot? It's like an unofficial membership pin, identifying him as being sympathetic to the Blood-Purist Faction, if not actually part of them.**

...meaning that he would "witness" an Honorary Britannian "shoot down an innocent Britannian civilian in cold blood", throwing a big wrench into the entire idea of Honorary Britannians in the first place. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

"I can't shoot down an innocent civilian," Suzaku says with conviction that we _both_ feel. I may not be a soldier, but I absolutely agree that civvies are off-limits!

The Guard Captain gets angry, surprising neither of us. "His youth or occupation are _irrelevant_," he hisses, eyes gleaming dangerously. "This terrorist stole a poison gas capsule, and had every intention of using it to kill countless citizens of the Area. As a soldier of the Holy Britannian Empire, I **order** you to execute him."

...oh, uh, Suzaku? Fair warning, there's something I need to tell you before this has a chance to escalate any further.

HEY, LISTEN!

**What?!**

Two things. First off? If these guys don't get C.C. - that's the cute girl with green hair, by the way - Clovis is gonna lose his shit and order the entirety of Shinjuku wiped off the map just to get rid of any possible witnesses, her presence here is _that_ damaging to him.

Secondly? If this guy shoots us, odds are pretty significant that C.C. is going to give Lelouch brainwashing powers that he'll use to kill everyone in front of us. After that he's gonna hijack a KMF, take over the terrorist operation and lead them to victory in today's battle against Britannian the forces, and then somewhere in that sequence of events - I don't _exactly_ recall - he's gonna assassinate his brother Clovis.

Since I'm sharing a body with Suzaku, I can feel the way our face contorts in blatant disbelief from everything I just said. Unfortunately, he doesn't have the presence of mind to keep his response to ourselves.

"...are you _high_?"

The Guard Captain's eyes flash with rage and-!

_**BANG.**_

...so _that's_ what getting shot feels like.

As our hands instinctively go to our wound - of course the sumbitch got us in a gap between our body armor - it hurts... it hurts so much I can barely even think.

But all the same, as the blackness overtakes our vision and we lose even the strength to keep our eyes open, I catch a flicker of thought run through Suzaku's head.

**...this is what I deserve.**

No it fucking _isn't_, **boyo**, and you bet your ass we're going to have a long talk about that, boya!

* * *

**To be continued...**


	2. Reform 2: GeminEye

Kneeling over Suzaku's unconscious body, I lightly poked him on the cheek with my index finger. "Hey. Boya. Wake up."

He stirred a little, and then I started getting annoyed. "If you're military, Suzaku, then you're not allowed to be as obnoxious a sleeper as me! Wake UP dammit!"

With heavier shaking, Suzaku finally abruptly woke up and instinctively pushed me off of him. "Who are -"

He blinks, putting two and two together. "...that voice... you were the guy in my head?"

Getting back to my feet, I dramatically toss my arms out to the side just like Chris Jericho, and even do an impression! "That's right - the GREATEST OF ALL TIME is right here! LIVE, in Shinjuku Ghetto!"

Suzaku... chose to ignore me for a moment, the little shit, and look around the two of us. As he observed the lack of human habitation, his eyes narrowed... until they grew wide as dinner saucers when he finally noticed the sky, a roiling mass of colors like if every Aurora Borealis ever had been compressed into a lava lamp. "This... is this some kind of dying dream?"

Not just a dream, he wonders, but specifically a _dying_ dream. "Yeah, about that... I don't normally like seriously playing the asshole, but I'm gonna cut to the chase here, Suzaku."

With that, I give him the pointer finger. "I know you want to die, and I know it stems from the fact you killed your father when you were a kid."

Then, as his eyes go wide and his body language turns defensive, I point at myself. "I, do _not_ want to die. And I damn sure don't want to die a virgin. But since I'm stuck in your head? If you die, odds are pretty good that I'm gonna die too, and I'm _soooo **not okay** with that_. So, how do you want to resolve this issue?"

Suzaku doesn't say anything for a long moment, and instead crosses his arms, face tense. Eventually, he finally gets around to speaking his mind. "...if you think of yourself as a virgin, then I guess that means you really _do_ have to be more than just some some twisted creation of my own mind."

...what? If I think of myself as a - "You little shit, you're telling me you've already dropped your V-ca..."

_Well played, Suzaku,_ I think as I narrow my eyes in annoyance. "You're trying to dodge the topic at hand. But now I don't feel like trying to be nice anymore."

Suzaku shrugs. "To be honest, the fact you identified Lelouch at a glance even before I was able to recognize him was a big clue, but for all I knew that could have just been my subconscious working faster than my conscious mind would be able to."

...more logical than I would have expected of you, Suzaku.

And before I can open my mouth to say something mean, Suzaku continues, watching me cautiously. "You also knew ahead of time that Lelouch and I weren't in danger from the _poison gas_. But you _didn't_ know about the Guard Captain working with the Purist Faction. There are things I know that you don't, and things I couldn't possibly have known, that you _do_. Even if I don't have an explanation as to _how_ you're in my head, it's pretty obvious that you're a separate person from me."

A moment later, he lets out a heavy sigh. "And... you're right. No matter who you are, it isn't fair to ask that _you_ die for _my_ sins."

...well, shit. "...looks like I owe you an apology, Suzaku. I've seen how you can turn out in the future, and I've been letting that color my attitude about you since we met."

Suzaku blinks, visibly unsure of quite how to process that. "How I... can turn out? Are you saying you're a... time traveler or something?"

"Eh..." shit, how do I answer that? "No, I'm not. But I know enough about some futures of this world that it's a good enough explanation, so let's go with that anyway and move on."

Suzaku doesn't look ready to leave the topic for dead just yet, but then he jumps, as if just catching the implications of what I said. "...wait. How _do_ I turn out?"

...this Suzaku, at the start of the show? He's, for the most part, a good kid. I didn't really expect that I would, but I feel bad for dumping this on him. "...the **short** version is that you and Lelouch spend the better part of a year or so trying to kill each other - first unwittingly, and then after a point it gets _absolutely_ personal. You do reconcile after while, but in the end, Lelouch asks you to kill him."

I look Suzaku right in the eyes. "And you do it. On global TV. And the world calls you a _hero_ for it."

While I'm say that, the aurora sky above us shows a brief montage from the anime that highlights Suzaku in the Lancelot tearing through Black Knight forces, followed by Suzaku selling out Lelouch to Emperor Charles, followed by the end of the Zero Requiem plan.

As Suzaku watches another history unfold, his eyes grow wide with horror. "This... _pity_ I'm feeling in the back of my heart," he asks after a long moment, "it isn't mine. Is it yours?"

Turning back to face me, he asks, "Is... is _that_ where my death wish leads me? Where it leads _Lelouch_?"

...I was going to ask these questions out of spite earlier, but now? Now, I don't have the spite in me anymore. "For all that he was upset to see you in a Britannian uniform, I think it safe to say that Lelouch still considers you to be his best friend. The only person in the world who is _unquestionably_ more important to him than you, at this point, is Nunnally. You _can't_ let yourself die without hurting him - and Nunnally too for that matter. You do know that, right?"

Suzaku looks down, seemingly acknowledging the reality of what I've just said, but frustrated that he doesn't have an actual counterargument. "...if you know the truth about my father's death, then you should at least understand _why_ I'm..."

He can't seem to quite find the strength of will to admit he's 'suicidal' at the moment, so instead he concludes, "...the way I am. Isn't that a fact?"

I plop down on the faux-Shinjuku asphalt and have myself a seat, crossing my legs Indian-style. "...the short version is that you feel you need to be punished for your father's murder, right?"

Suzaku remains standing, but after several seconds of extended silence, he nods. "Yes."

"Suzaku," I drawl with a sigh, "I don't claim to be an expert on Japanese law. Or Britannian military law either, for that matter. But, there is somethin' I gotta ask you real quick."

Suzaku seems to relax for a split second, taken off guard by the fact that I'm continuing this with a question.

Looking up at Suzaku, I ask him, "In what country or even _universe,_ kiddo, _does a murderer get to decide the sentence for their own crime?_"

Suzaku takes the question like a slap in the face, even going so far as to lose his balance.

"If it were just killing yourself," I continue, "you've had any number of chances to do it. If it were _justice_, I'm sure you could've taken your case to the authorities - but then, I guess the Purists in charge of Area 11 would either not fucking care, or just take it as an excuse to go ahead and shoot you themselves. But in the seven or eight years since that day, you apparently haven't done either. So, that makes me wanna ask: **why?**"

For a long moment, there isn't an answer. Until the aurora sky changes again, showing that morning on the hillside seven years ago, as Suzaku and Lelouch watched with horror and outrage as Britannia utterly steamrolled Japan.

Lelouch cried out, swearing that he would obliterate Britannia. But Suzaku... even if he kept it quiet, you can see from the fire in his eyes that he's made a promise too.

**I... I'm going to change the world!**

"...so that's it, huh," I muse. "You feel you owe a debt of justice to your father for killing him. But you also feel a great responsibility towards your people, and you can't abandon that duty without putting everything you have into it. Well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. 'Conflicting loyalties' might as well be your middle name, after all."

Suzaku remains silent for a long moment, and given that even now I'm getting flashes of what he's feeling? I'm inclined to let him.

"...we don't _have_ to be at an impasse," he slowly begins.

...but needless to say, _that_ gets my attention. "You haven't been able to live with your guilt, nor to quite let yourself die with your job unfinished, Suzaku. Are you saying that you're finally ready to make make a choice of one or the other?"

Suzaku walks forward and stands over me, face unreadable. "Even if we don't know how this started, we both share the same mind and the same body now. And we've been experiencing each other's thoughts and feelings this whole time. If you're willing to try it, I don't think there's a reason we couldn't fuse together into a single being."

Leaning down and offering me his hand, he concludes, _"Together, we stand a better chance of achieving what we both want."_

So the whole time I've been reading him, he's been reading me, huh? ...wait.

...heh. Heheheahaha. "**AAAAAAAAAAAHAAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHA!**"

Cackling into my hand, I ask him, "Is this your _third option_, kiddo?! 'Suzaku Kururugi' dies for his sins, while a new 'Suzaku Kururugi' both like and unlike him steps up to continue fighting in his place? And instead of keeping me in the back seat, you're willing to give me - a total stranger to you - a hand on the steering wheel, no less?! How do you know I wouldn't just quit the army, go find a hooker or something, and then off ourselves?"

Suzaku's answer to that is to fucking _smile_ at me. "I look at you, and see someone who's a judgmental smartass, a relentless complainer, and even something of a coward... **who believes there are right and wrong ways to go through life, and who tears himself up inside when he can't help the people in front of him.** Even if we have our differences, I think we're alike in the ways that _matter most_."

...fuck. I don't have a counterargument for that.

His smile dims a little, but not quite to the point of becoming a frown. "And besides, we both knew there's something you want _badly_. And while I know that this isn't the path you'd like? Sad to say that my deal is the best chance you're going to have at getting it."

I don't need to look up at the aurora sky we've got, and what's showing on it, to know what he's talking about. Being screwed around with. Overlooked. _Abandoned._

...after scratching my beard for a few seconds, I shake my head.

Suzaku extends his hand to me one more time, insisting that the chance is mine if I'm willing to take it.

_..._

_Fuck even one more day of that shit._

"I'm gonna trade that life for fortune and fame..."

I stand up, look Suzaku right in the eyes, and shake his hand in acceptance of the deal!

**"I'd even cut my hair and change my name!"**

...guh! So... many... _memories?!_

This whole world, it's blurring and slurring together...!

_Everything turns a hot, blinding white._

"Hey man, you know something?" It's a _really_ small comfort that he sounds as discombobulated as I am as he says, "...that really wasn't as cool of an answer as you thought it was."

"...oh I hope you fucking _enjoyed_ taking that shot at me Suzaku, because it's the last one you're ever getting!"

That laughter I hear in response... doesn't it sound like the both of us?

**Britannian Army Mobile Command Center - Medical Truck 4**

"His brainwaves seem to be stabilizing," Cecile reported as she studied the diagnostics in front of her. "Unless there are further complications, I expect that Mister Suzaku will wake up in the next fifteen minutes, perhaps sooner."

"Lovely, simply lovely! I must say, I can hardly _wait_ for our new devicer to come online!"

A statement _that_ equally giddy and devoid of compassion could have only come from a certain Earl Lloyd Asplund, her superior and director in Military Research and Development. With the patience of a Saint, and the experience born of working with Lloyd for _years_, Cecile had long since come beyond the point of letting her exasperation with her boss slow her down. "There still isn't any guarantee that he'll choose to operate the Lancelot," she patiently reminded him instead.

_That_ got Lloyd to stop for a moment, pondering. "Hrm... well, I suppose you aren't technically wrong about that, Cecile. But after we came all this way, and on _your_ wonderful deductions no less?"

Ever dramatic enough for the entire team, Lloyd brought a hand to his face and sighed. "It would be nothing short of a _tragedy_ to have to return to the laboratory without so much as a _scrap_ of new data."

Cecile fought back a frown, unable to quite disagree with that sentiment. Though she never had been and never would be as manic as her boss, she _was_ still a scientist - and before that, even, a human being. _Everyone _found it demoralizing to have their efforts squandered, no matter their trade or position in life.

_These brainwave patterns, though_...

As Cecile pulled up readouts from the last several minutes into a secondary screen on her terminal, she was struck again by the puzzle that lay before her. The entire time they'd had the young Private hooked up for treatment and monitoring, his brainwave activity had been unusually high for someone unconscious - enough so, in fact, that she and Lloyd had wondered for several minutes if he'd been _actually_ asleep, or faking it.

Then, about twenty minutes ago, his brain activity had spiked to the point of indicating a seizure, and a few minutes later they had in fact had to strap Suzaku to the table in order to prevent him from aggravating his injury.

With any luck, his unconscious state meant that he hadn't suffered any pain when she took the bullet out and cleaned the wound. Even now, she found herself glancing over to the young man, visually confirming that Suzaku's wrappings were appropriately tight, binding his side together with appropriate pressure.

Gradually, enough so that she didn't realize it at first, her eyes slid from Suzaku's bandages to his well-toned abdominal muscles, on up to his firm chest and from there -

Cecile abruptly shook her head, the faintest dusting of red on her cheeks, and returned to her analysis. She hadn't meant to check him out like that; it was conduct unbecoming of her, and inappropriate for the situation. She'd make it up to Suzaku later. Maybe he'd accept a home-cooked meal as an apology?

At that time, a low groan from the bench got her attention. "Lloyd," Cecile called out, "he seems to be waking up." Idly, she checked her watch... eight and a half minutes since she'd given her initial estimate. Perhaps Suzaku was the type to recover and bounce back quickly?

"HAVING A _BAD DAY_, ARE WE?"

Cecile turned back to Suzaku just quickly enough to watch it all unfold: the way young Honorary tried to jump up off the bench like a rocket as he yelped in alarm... and then the anti-seizure restraints held, constraining Suzaku in place and causing his head to fall back and hit the double-thickness pillow she'd placed just in case of such an event.

"What the... where-?"

While Lloyd merrily continued needling Suzaku for a moment, Cecile took stock of the young man's behavior and reactions as she got up to examine him. The way his green eyes darted around, taking stock of everything around him, seemed par for the course from a soldier. ...but then he'd take a second glance almost immediately afterward, and almost seem faintly surprised or impressed. Almost as if he were trying to reconcile his surroundings as both familiar, and unfamiliar at the same time.

Just as Suzaku was asking Lloyd for an update on the battle, his gaze slid over to her, and... he completely froze up, eyes wide. Cecile had seen the look on his face somewhere before, she _knew_ it... and after a long moment, she finally remembered where.

_Johnny had almost that very same expression when he experienced the Badlands of South Dakota for the first time with his own eyes, after previously only seeing it in pictures or on film._

But... Lloyd was nobility, and as the man in charge of Knightmare Research and Development, fairly well-known for his eccentricities. _Her_ face, on the other hand, shouldn't be so well known. Curiouser and curiouser.

Still, though, the way he was just _staring_ at her... called for a short experiment. "I'm sorry," she asked, "but is there something on my face?"

The question shocked Suzaku out of his stupor, and he frantically shook his head. "No, nothing at all like that, you're just so beautiful my brain stopped working -"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than Suzaku immediately covered his face with his hands and groaned in embarrassment. "...I said that out loud, didn't I?"

Simple, honest, genuine... Cecile liked that. "It's fine, and thank you for the compliment, Mister Suzaku. My name is Cecile Croomy," she introduced herself, "and I work as an assistant for Lloyd, whom you've already been introduced to."

"Right," he replied with a nod, leaping desperately onto the change of topic. "And I'm Private Suzaku Kururugi, Third Honorary Infantry Division... but of course the two of you already knew that," he recalls with an embarrassed wince. "Right."

"And now that we've concluded with introductions," Lloyd asked with a flourish, "how much experience do you have operating a Knightmare Frame?"

To see Lloyd dangling the Lancelot's activation key in front of - for all intents and purposes - a _stranger_, struck Cecile as unusual and significant. With any other machine it might not have meant anything, but this was Lloyd's personal pet project. Either Suzaku already had some degree of experience as a KMF operator... or else there was something specific about _Suzaku in particular_ that made him stand out in Lloyd's mind as an ideal pilot.

"The military wouldn't put an Eleven at the controls of a Knightmare," Suzaku said in response. Which wasn't untrue at a social level, but there weren't actually any _regulations_ that forbade Honorary Britannians from becoming pilots. There was no legal reason that they _couldn't_.

"Lovely way of dodging the question," Lloyd noted without judgment. "But supposing that I offered you the power to _change the world_, Private..."

The interior lights of the medical trailer gleamed and glinted off of Lloyd's glasses as he asked, "What would you say to that?"

Instead of answering immediately, Suzaku reached out for a glass of water and chugged it, before then making a face as if he'd just taken a shot of something with a strong kick to it. "When can I start?"

[-To be continued...]


	3. Reform 3: Mirror of Humiliation

**A/N: I'd like to dedicate this chapter to a fellow author and recently-made friend of mine, The Sage of Toads. When you're done leaving your review here, please give his stories "Legends: A Story of Lies" a read!  
**

* * *

_G-1 Mobile Fortress, en route to Shinjuku..._

"What do you mean, 'you lost them in the chaos of an explosion'?! You dare to call yourselves the Royal Guard?!"

General Aspirius Bartley was, at that moment, feeling a mix of emotions: indignation, embarrassment, and mortal dread.

The Imperial Viceroy's Royal Guard Captain, on the other end of the communications line, stuttered and started in the face of the General's wrath. "Well, the explosion was-"

Bartley couldn't have been less interested. "Imbeciles! Why do you think I only told you about this?! Continue the investigation!"

Several meters behind him, Clovis la Britannia considered the massive computer screen's tactical display of the situation in Shinjuku... and made a decision with consequences the like of which he could never have imagined. "...move the operation into the second phase."

Bartley turned back to face the Prince in alarm, the monocle nearly falling off of his face from the action. "Your Highness, doesn't that seem a bit rash?! I'm certain that we can still salvage this situation without a need for escalati-"

"If word of this gets back to the Homeland, I'll be disinherited." Clovis's tone was firm, but not heartless with his subordinate. "_Worse,_ everything we've spent the last eight years striving for will have been for nothing, and any hope born from our endeavors will be **lost**."

Bartley clenched his fists, many emotions clearly warring within him as he considered the Prince's words. After several seconds, the General bowed his head. "...I understand, Your Highness."

"When the homeland asks, inform them that we're simply moving ahead on scheduled urban development," Clovis began before he stood and faced his entire command staff. Eyes glinting with the force of a great and terrible resolve, he swept an arm out before him and declared - "Now, as Third Prince of the Empire, Clovis la Britannia commands you: flatten Shinjuku Ghetto to the ground, and every Number in it!"

Within seconds of his decree, heavy demolitions and artillery forces began sweeping into Shinjuku Ghetto...

* * *

"...supposing that I offered you the power to _change the world_, Private Kururugi..."

The interior lights of the medical trailer gleam and glint off of Lloyd's glasses as he looks at me, that coy smile on his face like always. "What would you say to that?"

**I... I'm going to change the world!**

The memory of Suzaku's silent vow on the hill that day echoes to the front of my heart, even as I remember so many scenes from the anime of the incredible power that Knightmare possesses.

And the literal key to it all, right there in Lloyd's hand! With that, I can make this life mean something! I'll follow Suzaku's path as he wished, but with everything I saw in the anime, I can learn from the mistakes he and Lelouch made and use that knowledge to pave a better road for everyone!

Euphemia... Shirley... Lelouch...! I can change the future of this world into one where so many people don't have to die!

...damn I'm thirsty though, good thing there's a cup of Sprite here OH GOD THAT'S WATER I HATE WATER _WHY IS SUZAKU'S BRAIN TELLING ME IT LIKES WATER-_

_We're not cavemen **dammit,** to have no other choice for survival but the most basic of options,_ I think as I swallow it down. Ugh. ...oh, right, Lloyd asked me a question. "When can I start?"

Come to think of it... if I can find Lulu's Sutherland and force him to make a beeline for Clovis early instead of taking time to chew through the rest of his forces, that should end the battle early and save at least some percentage of innocent Japanese that would've been otherwise been slaughtered. It might not be a huge difference, but it's a start.

"Oh we won't be able to deploy you until His Highness the Viceroy orders it," Lloyd admits with a put-upon sigh... before it morphs into a manic grin! "-but there's no reason we can't get you familiar with your new equipment in the meantime!"

"Sounds like a plan," I say with a nod, hop off the bed **and then agony itself _TEARS THROUGH MY SIDE-_**

"Mr. Suzaku!"

Through sheer force of will, I force down the scream of pain and stop it from escaping... but before I know it, I've got someone next to me holding me up and supporting my weight.

"You were found with a gunshot wound," a soothing voice explains from almost in my ear. "Even though we've cleaned and treated it, you're still injured. Please take it easy, okay?"

Fuck... okay, yeah, now I remember that douchebag sergeant shooting me back when Suzaku and I were with Lelouch.

"The last thing I'd want," I start saying as I turn to to the person holding me up, "is for your hard work to go... to... waste..."

_...god damn son of a bitch_, up close like this Cecile's even more beautiful than I thought earlier. Those big, lovely silver eyes gazing at me with concern, the curve of her lips as she starts to smile-

Aaahhhhh she's touching me! This amazing incredible beautiful woman is touching me! The fucking highest point of my life is right now!

Then I notice something soft pressed against me, and looking down - holy crap, her chest is bigger than the uniform makes it look!

...and then I realize I'm probably staring like a loser, and forcibly drag my eyes back up to where I know hers are. "I, ah... I'll make sure to be careful, Miss Cecile!"

She smiles (ah~, my heart keeps skipping beats!), overlooking my woman-crazy foolishness, and helps steady me back onto my own feet.

"Although I do find it curious," Lloyd drawls as the ceiling lights reflect once more off his glasses, "that the dosage of painkillers we gave you has apparently already worn off. Tell me, Private, do you still expect that you can pilot in your condition?"

...

Oh, right, I was shot. Nice of Lloyd to remind me again after I got distracted. "Yes, absolutely." Or at least, Suzaku did it in the anime, and if I can't take this chance to attach myself to the Lancelot as its pilot, then I'm gonna be shit out of luck on getting anywhere in this new life.

"Honestly," I think out loud, "I'm actually kind of surprised the injury isn't any worse than it is."

"It surprised us too," Cecile admits as she produces something wrapped up in a neckerchief. "It seems this watch stopped the bullet and kept it from penetrating nearly as much as it could have."

Oh, right, the _watch_: Suzaku's final keepsake of his father. Just from looking at it, I can feel the mix of pride Suzaku felt when Genbu gave it to him... and bitter disillusionment that tarnished that pride, culminating in the bitter rage and loss accompanying his murder. ...honestly, if it were me, I'm not sure I'd be strong enough to keep holding onto to something like that.

"Although," Cecile continues with a soft smile, "it doesn't seem to be completely broken."

...wait, what?

Sure enough, even though the pocketwatch is cracked and dented all to hell, the second-hand keeps trying to tick forward, before it skips back and repeats itself.

_Almost like it wants to move forward but doesn't remember how_ \- wait, why did I just think that?

"You Elevens believe that Gods reside in every little thing, don't you? It seems you missed out on your chance to go to Heaven." Lloyd's smile and tone are absolutely mocking... but less of Suzaku's race, and more directed at the Shinto beliefs and superstitions he's referring to.

"...if there _is_ any such thing as a God in that watch," I mutter as much to myself as Lloyd, "I'd really be surprised if it's looking out for me."

* * *

Shooting her Glasgow's sole remaining slash harken into yet another military helicopter, Kallen Kozuki let her tears flow freely, using her grief and despair as a whetstone to further sharpen her fighting instincts.

"Damn Britannians... you took away our country...!"

Stealing the assault rifle from a fallen Sutherland, she turned and used the Glasgow's landspinners to quickly dart to the side before opening fire on a rocket that had been fired at her, detonating it before it could get close enough to threaten her.

"You took away our pride and our identity...!"

Counting up the sins of her enemy, Kallen continued darting across the battlefield as heavy artillery flew through the skies, obliterating buildings and causing them to collapse onto the street or even nearby structures.

She couldn't make herself focus on the carnage again. Not after she'd already seen more than a few of her fellow Japanese hurl themselves through skyscraper windows, having evidently chosen death on the pavement as preferable to being crushed amidst the collapsing building.

"And now, you turn the Shinjuku ghettos into a parking lot?!"

Coming across a Britannian infantry team that was scouting another city block for demolition - as had been going on for close to an _hour_ \- Kallen pulled the trigger on them with a scream, reducing them in turn to blood spatters on the ground. "I can't... I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!"

_"Kallen, pull back! We're completely outgunned and outmatched - the only hope left is to fight another day!"_

Turning her Glasgow to face a trio of approaching Sutherlands that had just emerged from behind a fallen building, Kallen opened fire and tore through the armor of one, mission-killing it before retreating behind cover. "Understood, Ohgi! I'll draw their fire so the rest of you can escape!"

_"Dammit_ _Kallen,"_ Ohgi swore on the radio,_ "that's not what I meant and you know it! We've already lost too much today. We can't afford to lose you too!"_

Gritting her teeth as she led her damaged Glasgow to dance between the ever-shifting rubble, Kallen found a moments' safety in the ruins of a parking garage. Twisting the cap off a water bottle and chugging a third of it, she took a deep breath before addressing her handheld radio. "I've got things under control!"

The Glasgow's energy fillers were fast approaching critical, more Sutherlands were starting to emerge and box her in, and her stolen gun had jammed after her previous kill.

"I'll be fine!"

Kallen wouldn't be fine. Her parents were empty husks in the shape of people, her stepmother a vile bitch. Her brother had sacrificed himself to bring their group the information that had led to the day's operation, and had now spiraled into a waking nightmare of missile fire and crumbling buildings. All she could see in her grief was the determination to take as many Britannian bastards down with her.

Raising up her water bottle to pour some on her head in an attempt to cool off, Kallen's hands were off the controls for one critical second as a Sutherland peeked into her hiding place.

"FUCK!"

Just as the Sutherland raised its weapon to fire on her, however... it was promptly shoulder-tackled to the ground by another one, and then the cockpit torn through a short burst of gunfire at point-blank range.

Even as Kallen trained her jammed-up weapon on him as a bluff, her pounding heart almost in her throat, nothing else happened for the next several seconds as she and this apparent... _Traitor Sutherland_ regarded each other.

_Who the hell is this guy?! Even if he had some crisis of conscience or whatever that made him turn traitor, there's only so much one pilot can do, so what the hell is-_

The Traitor Sutherland turned to face her, then, and lowered its weapon... before extending its open hand to her Glasgow.

"...huh?"

It was just a normal, mass-production Sutherland, completely unremarkable or indistinguishable from any other in the world. And yet standing over its brother machine's still-smoking remains, hand extended... it somehow seemed to Kallen as if it were ten times its size, larger than life in every way.

She heard an unfamiliar voice, then, and two things immediately struck her - first, that is wan't coming from the Glasgow's onboard communications, but actually her handheld radio! This mystery pilot stood out like a sore thumb, their Japanese quite good but colored with an obvious Britannian accent; clearly not a part of her group, and yet he was using their private communications band to contact with her.

Second, she noticed that the speaker's tone was one of supreme confidence, and beneath that Kallen could feel a deep, burning fury that struck a chord with her.

In her confusion and consternation, Kallen then realized she'd been too busy analyzing the voice to actually notice what he'd said.

"Wh... what did you say?"

Undaunted by the need to repeat himself, the Speaker said, "**_If you have any wish to see Britannia punished for their crimes... if you want to claim any kind of _victory _today, then all you have to do is follow my instructions."_**

His declaration was completely absurd. That he could say that so casually, like beating Britannia would be as simple as moving the sofa into a different room and all he needed was another person to lift the other end... "Punish Britannia...? Victory?! That's a fucking _joke_, right?! Why should I follow orders from some clown who just comes out of nowhere talking like he's hot shit?!"

The Traitor Sutherland's hand didn't waver, and when next he spoke, the confidence was bolstered with... a great deal of amusement.

_**"Tell me, then... what other choice do you have?"  
**_

* * *

_Back at the Britannian G-1 Base..._

Since I opened my eyes, one thing after another has been either recognizing things and people from the anime, or Suzaku knowing something despite my not recognizing it.

Honestly, two sets of memories - two mutually exclusive _lives_... reconciling them's been awkward. And given that the bits and pieces of Suzaku's memories flitting into my mind don't seem to be going in any particular kind of order? Lemme tell ya, that doesn't make it any easier.

In the meantime, though, I'm just sitting in the Lancelot's cockpit, getting myself familiar with its controls and taking a chance to read up on Lloyd's operation manual.

And I have to say, it's a good thing thing they gave me the manual to read, because I was almost too distracted by how amazing and pretty Cecile is to pay attention when Lloyd was talking about half of this stuff earlier!

**I hope you don't plan on letting that become a habit...**

_Oh, heya Suzaku! I didn't expect to hear from you again... well... ever._

From within my head, I have the impression of Suzaku letting out a sigh of exasperation. **I wasn't exactly expecting to be having a conversation again, either. It seems like instead of fusing together, all we did was change places.**

I mull that over for a moment, and shake our head. Yes, I'm in the driver's seat now, but I can't agree that that's the only thing to have changed. _Well, actually... it's getting hard for me to distinguish 'your' memories as being different from 'mine', Suzaku. And judging by that baffled discomfort I can feel in your heart, I'm betting it's the same for you?_

**...you might be right,** Suzaku admits after a moment. **But more importantly, I can't believe you spent an entire _hour_ ogling Miss Cecile!**

_Hey, I wasn't ogling!_

I feel, more than see, the image of Suzaku giving me the flattest, most unimpressed damn stare of all time. **Whenever she or Earl Asplund had their attention elsewhere, you were staring at Miss Cecile's chest through her uniform. And when it wasn't her chest, it was her behind or her legs. And the whole time, you were fantasizing about how she'd look in her underwear beneath her uniform!**

_When you're in the presence of a **Goddess**, Suzaku? That's the time for **worship**!_

**You're a shameless pervert,** Suzaku mentally growls in annoyance.

_Yes,_ I metaphorically nod in agreement, _but you should also be able to recognize that I'm never going to actually act on it. I mean, even if I'm running your body now... I'm still just **me** inside. Who the heck's ever gonna go for **that**, aside maybe from gold diggers who just want an extra paycheck? Any woman I might ever care for deserves so much **better** than someone like me - which of course goes more than triple for a lady as kind, classy, intelligent, beautiful, and otherwise amazing as Cecile._

There's a long, extended silence from the other side of my soul, before Suzaku starts... chuckling?

**Hehehe. Is this what it's like? Hahahahaha, oh man, I... I actually get it now!**

As sad, bitter laughter echoes across our shared headspace, I feel as though Suzaku's looking at me with an expression I know I've worn at least once or twice... watching some of his scenes from the anime.

**This contempt and disgust at watching someone put themselves down, sabotaged by their own insecurities and self-doubt. Being so angry that you want to slap the stupidity out of that person and make them realize they're not half as worthless or evil as they claim they are - people in your world, where mine is just a cartoon. _This is how people look at me, isn't it?_**

_...well, I'm sure at least some people do - hold the fuck up Suzaku, are you calling me an angsty idiot?!_

**How does that saying go? If the shoe fits...**

_This from the guy who literally offered to **kill himself** so I could enjoy living the rest of his life, so long as I took up his legacy?_

Suzaku's response is as immediate as it is vehement!

**Yes, from that very same man! And it's also the reason why _I'm_ more qualified than anyone in the world to call you out on your _shit_ -**

Abruptly, he stops, and I feel a sense of confusion from him.

**...I just realized. I don't have a name for you.**

...huh. I guess I never did actually introduce myself.

_I guess you can call me One._

There's a momentary pause, and then I feel Suzaku let out a chuckle. **What, taken from one of your online usernames? Or a joke on the idea that operating our body makes you _Player One_ now?**

...no. Even if Suzaku technically handed his body to me, as long as he's still alive, I think it still more appropriately belongs to him. And if my involvement gets him to appreciate and enjoy his life instead of hating it, wouldn't that be even better?

_No, I wouldn't think of myself as Player One. More like... your plus one._

I can feel his confusion from the unexpected term. **'Plus one'?**

_Yeah, a plus one. Like when somebody mails you an invitation to a party and it says, 'plus one'. Unless something else happens, it looks like I'm your plus one for life._

At that time, before Suzaku can try to wrap his head around the idea, a girl's voice startles us out of our conversation. "Hey, who authorized you to be in there?!"

I turn up to look at the technician standing over me on the catwalk, and the first thing I notice is that she's _damn_ cute. A Britannian girl wearing the same technician uniform as Cecile, with dark red hair in dual-ponytails draped over her shoulders, bangs split in the middle of her forehead that elegantly frame her face, smaller-than-average chest for Code Geass...

She seems so familiar, though, but where have I - _holy shit, **Mariel Lubie**? But... but she and Cecile exist in **mutually exclusive universes**, so what the fuck is -_

Mariel blinks, "Eh? You know my name?"

...shit, I must've been so surprised that I said her name out loud, when Suzaku shouldn't know it yet!

The redhead peers at me carefully, leaning over the railing, before suddenly her eyes go wide with... recognition? "Hang on, you're that cadet from two years ago, aren't you! Back in Akihabara?"

Akihabara?! Two years before now? I don't know anything about any of this!

Suzaku, for his part, makes an "aha!" sort of noise in my brain - **That's right, I ran after a purse snatcher for three blocks, and then when I came back to return it to the owner, law enforcement personnel had finally shown up...**

As Suzaku keeps reminiscing, I can see the memories of the event in question flit across the space between our consciousnesses.

"...it took almost ten minutes of you arguing with the Knightpolice before they finally decided not to just arrest me and call it a day," I mutter in surprise and... honestly, a little awe. "Oh! Uh, thanks for that, by the way. If not for you, I'm sure I would've-"

"Oh don't worry about that," she says with a wave of her hand and a smile. "Even when everyone else in that street just stood back and watched without a care, you heard me cry out for help and did everything you could to help me. Thank _you_... my knight in shining armor."

She says that with a wink and a beaming smile, and... gaaahhhh, she's just too cute! I think I'm falling in love! "U-um, Suzaku! ...my name, I mean. Private Suzaku Kururugi."

**...you're an embarrassment,** Suzaku mutters from inside my head. **And you barely even have a clue of what love _is_. You're just overreacting to a girl being nice to you!**

_Oh yeah?! Well, uh... alt-universe you ate rice from straight off the corner of Lelouch's mouth,_ I say in return to shut him up.

Mariel, for her part, thinks over our previous words for a second. "Private, huh? If Lloyd's going to have you transferred to work with us as the Lancelot's pilot, then you're probably going to get a promotion just for the required security clearance."

Yeah, doesn't get Suzaku get bumped up to Warrant Officer in both Rebellion and Counterattack continuities? Ugh, I hope Mariel's the only curveball like this we get, otherwise this whole 'mix-and-match universe' thing is gonna be a real pain in the ass...

**You do realize,** Suzaku asks, **that the more we act on what you know, the less reliable it will become... right?**

_Well, it's not like we can realistically stop Cornelia from attacking resistance bases, or stop Lelouch from becoming Zero. Not without killing them, anyway - which neither of us want to do._

**...honestly,** Suzaku mutters with a sigh of frustration and a little despair,** we probably _do_ need Lelouch as an outside force. Not to obliterate Britannia, but to challenge it enough to inspire doubt and create openings in its zeitgeist for the change we have in mind.**

_The old hammer and anvil approach, huh? I wonder which one that makes us..._

From Suzaku, I feel grim resolve. **The anvil. Lelouch can hammer on Britannia all he likes and even smash it apart if he has to... but it's _our_ responsibility not to break or bend from the pressure if we're going to shape it properly.**

_Fucking hell, ain't it just my luck to always get the **hard** part of the job...!_

**If-**

_"If we don't do it, who the fuck will?" Yeah dude, chill out, I know. I've got that song and dance long past memorized..._

I get a funny little feeling from the part of my consciousness where Suzaku seems to be, and... is that _acceptance?_

**...I guess you do.** Is he smiling, there? It almost feels like he's smiling...

"So," I turn my attention back to Mariel and ask, "what do you do around here?"

I mean, it seems a little redundant if she and Cecile have the same role as Lloyd's assistant...

Mariel blinks at the question and smiles... I guess she's pleased that I'm taking an interest. "Oh, I work on the Lancelot's bleeding-edge sensors and software. If Lloyd sent you here than you've probably met Cecile too, right? She's more on the physics and engineering side of things. ...although, I don't know if it's been decided who's going to be managing the pilot data yet?"

"So when reliable and accurate factsphere data pulls my bacon out of the fire," I ask with a little grin, "I'll have you to thank for it? It's good to know that ahead of time."

The redhead on the catwalk blinks, before she coughs and turns away a little awkwardly. What, did I say something wro- oh wait. I _do_ have the air conditioning in here turned up pretty high to balance out against the ambient heat from the computers and machinery, so maybe she caught a blast from it and got a bit of a chill?

**You... don't even have a clue what you're doing. Do you?**

...why does he sound so annoyed with me all of a sudden?

_What? I want her to like us, so of course I'm giving her credit where it's gonna be due! And it's not like I'm saying anything I don't actually mean, so what's the problem?_

I imagine Suzaku heaving a sigh of frustration and says, **You're using what you agreed earlier was _my_ body... to flirt. With a cute Britannian lady. Do you see the potential problem?**

_...Suzaku, I'm not flirting. I'm lightheartedly teasing her in the same way that she did earlier with the 'knight in shining armor' joke to show I'm on the same page, hopefully leading to a mutual camaraderie and a positive work environment. As to the racial subtext you brought up... wouldn't acting like a heartless bastard and being unrelentingly rude and hateful to her be even worse? It's not like I'm even being all that familiar with her! Besides... even if the one universe I know her from presents her as your love interest, I'M the one she's talking to right now. What the hell could she possibly see in **me**?_

I feel as if Suzaku is struggling violently with himself over how to express what's on his mind, and eventually he grits out a surprisingly livid growl.

**You... dense... _motherfucker_.**

_Takes one to know one - wait, since when the fuck do YOU even swear, Suzaku?!_

**Since you took up residence in my head, apparently!**

Before we can talk any further, the alert klaxon goes off and I hear Lloyd's voice coming from the Lancelot's internal comms suite. "Private Kururugi," he drawls, "we've finally been called on to serve our glorious Empire in battle. _Do_ be a good devicer and show off our Lancelot, hm~?"

Cecile's voice is on next. "I'll be overseeing and coordinating mission data, Suzaku."

"Understood, Miss Cecile." Taking a second to confirm the readings on Lancelot's instrument clusters, I add, "All safety and operational checks show green on my end."

So I guess this puts Mariel on maintenance behind the scenes, then- "Hey," the girl in question says with a smile, "let's talk again sometime after you come back. Alright?"

"Yeah, I'd like that Miss Marie-"

HOLY SHIT THAT WAS FAST

"Only my superiors and my papa call me _Mariel_," she says with utmost seriousness and a pointer finger just centimeters away from jabbing me between the eyes. "That's Elle to you, alright?"

...heh, I guess I can at least count on _some_ things to remain consistent with one canon or another. "I'll make sure to remember that. Alright, Elle?"

Elle offers one last smile, before hopping back out of the cockpit and onto the catwalk as Cecile's voice came over the onboard communications. "Initial startup, perceiving from phase twenty..."

From there, we go through the Lancelot's startup procedures, and as everything fully powered up I feel sort of a... pins and needles sensation start to crawl up and down my body, just under my skin. "Yggdrasil Resonance confirmed," Cecile intoned.

_...hey, Suzaku. I just realized something._

**Hm?**

_Even after reading what I could of the manual, and even though I'm getting flashes of your memories and experience?_

**Yes?**

_I HAVE NO **FUCKING** CLUE HOW TO OPERATE A GIANT MECHA! MUCH LESS FIGHT IN ONE!  
_

I get the impression of a sigh, then, from Suzaku's side of our... consciousness, and his response is an exasperated-

**Then just let me take control again, and watch how it's done from the back seat.**

_...oh. Duh. Fucking obvious. Although, how do I-_

Almost before I can finish that thought, all of my senses kind of get dull for a second... before going back to normal as the tingling sensation passes, Suzaku moves our hand to adjust the air conditioning a bit. _Hey...!_

**In another few minutes we'd have gotten cold.**

_...okay, yeah, I guess._

"Rejection Response fluctuating... momentary spike, now falling off and stabilizing. Devicer's Stress Response, eight percent higher than expected- falling within expected parameters. ...Suzaku," the bluenette angel asks in concern, "are you alright?"

"There was a bit of a tingling feeling," Suzaku says while shaking our head, "but it's passed now."

"Let's be sure to keep a close eye on that moving forward," Lloyd mutters, sounding so obviously interested that for a second I can't help but wonder if he's drooling. "To be on the safe side, we'll run you through some tests once the operation's complete."

Safe side? More like avoiding the hassle of needing to look for a replacement pilot.

"Status of back-up tactical bank," Lloyd continues, "authorized. Secondary confirmation, given."

And with that signal, I felt a spark of excitement race through Suzaku - and, hell, me too! Now if only we had some kickass music, like 'Gundam Shutsugeki', 'HEATS', or 'Dividing Driver'...!

Suzaku leans the machine forward into a three-point stance, eyes focused on the path forward as our hangar door opens up. "Lancelot, activating ME-boost."

Cecile makes the call of destiny, just as I finally figure out the perfect song!

"Z-01 Lancelot, launch!"

_MIAGETA! OOZORA GA AOKU SUMIKITTE YUKU!_

With a fierce rumbling, the Lancelot races forward on its landspinners, the terrain around us blazing by almost too fast for me to process details through Suzaku's eyes!

_TOZASHITA MADO WO HIRAKU KOTO WO KIMETAAAA! _


End file.
